A Midsummer Night's Dream
by Ellisama
Summary: After Astrid's death, Hiccup sets out to explore the world and bury his grief. But never in his wildest dreams would he have guessed that his quest for redemption would involve saving the Kingdom of Arendelle, and falling in love with it's young Queen, Elsa. Hiccelsa


_Here it is, the 5,5K+ first part of a tumblr request gone wrong. The request was Hiccelsa, or Hiccup X Elsa. Weird, I know. But while I was writing it, I found a love for it, and the fic wrote itself. Basically I lost control over it and it became too big. The entire things is over 10K+ words. I could use a beta. Just saying. Don't own either of these shows._

-** A Midsummer Night's Dream ~ An Image of Snow **-

They'd conquered both centuries of tradition and decades of hatred together. For a while, Hiccup believed they were untouchable, invincible. He had a marriage ring ready for her, but his dreams were shattered before they could become reality. Of all things to take Astrid from him, it was a common cold gone wrong. She was feverish in the end, but she seemed at peace in her final moments. With her dying breath she took his youth and innocence with her. She was only 19 years old.

He could barely stay in Berk till the boat was lit aflame. Everything, from the dragons till the academy, reminded her of something they'd done together, of her. He left the next morning, leaving only a tear smudged note behind for his father to find.

In the following years, he flew around the world, hardly ever touching the ground at first, blending in with the unfamiliar crowds later. Dragons were unknown in these regions, but the news of a foreign friendly dragon master spread like wildfire over the lands. At some places he was welcomed as a wise man, where people would listen to his every word, and beg for his favour. They believed him a god, and Hiccup quickly grew weary of these lands. In other places he was less welcome: these people, either taken over by fear or greed, fired at him at sight. Nobody could out race a night fury, but a few well placed arrows made Hiccup think twice about returning to these regions.

And then there were the kingdoms, located in the centre of the European kingdoms. He was welcomed in Corona with open arms by a princess who had never been afraid to believe in her own dreams, and for once he intended to keep his promise of returning someday. It was days after his 22th birthday that he landed in the lands of Arendelle, or so the map Rapunzel had given him told him. Its further up north than he's comfortable with, but he promised her that he would be there to meet her, so he's there. True to her word, the coronation attracted enough strange people for him to easily blend him. But before he can meet his strange friends, the capital falls to chaos. Apparently the queen was possessed by some kind of magic, and in a daze tried to kill half of her guests. Hiccup has had his fair share of folklore and supposed magic, and believes less than half of what he hears. What he does see is a chance to escape before the witchcraft is blamed on the dragon master. (It wouldn't be the first time, really.)

He doesn't come far, because his adventurous eye is caught by a castle made _entirely of ice_. In the middle of summer, no less. Not even Berk can claim such a feet, and for once he wonders if the tales of the queen might be true. Against better judgement he approaches the castle and lands on the balcony.

It's probably stupid, but he hasn't acted with caution for his own life in years and isn't about to start now. The doors open and in front of him stands no witch and certainly no monster, but a beautiful woman in a dress made of ice.

"So, you must be the queen?" He asks her awkwardly even though it is obvious, if only to keep himself from staring at her radiance in the morning light.

"What are you doing here? And how did you get here?" She asked, scared and shocked. She doesn't even notice Toothless until he moves forward to sniff her like he does more often with people. The queen is visibly shocked and in a flash of emotion shoots ice at his dragon.

But Toothless grew up in 9 months of snow a year and is not dissuaded by a little bit of ice. With a small puff of fire he melts it, and continues his approach. The queen is too shocked to move again, but Hiccup detects fear in her too. It's not for Toothless, who is wagging his tail at her like a puppy, but it's still there. She doesn't relax when Toothless gives her a good lick, hot saliva melting a part of her dress.

"Toothless, back off. You're ruining her dress!" He says with a smile on his face. It's unreal. 5 hours ago this woman supposedly almost killed two dozen people, and now he's standing on the balcony of her frozen castle and is trying to make_ her_ at ease. But he's learned some court manners by now introduces himself to the shy woman. "My name's Hiccup, and sorry for barging into your house. But I couldn't resist not coming." He tries to put up his best smile, and it helps, if only a little.

She doesn't give him her name, maybe because she thinks he already knew it or maybe because she is too shaken by his arrival. Instead, she allows him to follow her into her palace's great hall. His eyes are drawn to the crystallized ice, and the way the castle is naturally lightened by the sun through the icy walls. "Wow" He mutters as he studies the structures of the room. He knows instinctively that the queen hasn't taken her eyes of him for a second, but she hasn't attacked him either so he feels like he is free. It's cold inside, but a good kind of cold that reminds him of dragon racing and snoggletog. For the first time in years he feels a pang of home sickness in his stomach, but he drowns it in wonder for this icy castle.

They don't speak for a long time. Toothless gets bored quickly and at some point falls asleep on the floor of the upper room. Hiccup watches the queen instead, while she mends her dress and creates some more icy furniture. He wants to ask if she did all this, but thinks it a stupid question because obviously no other with such powers just happened to be here. Eventually he settles in one of her icy chairs, and offers her some of lukewarm tea from his supplies. She accepts it gracefully, and finally dares to meet his eyes.

"Who send you here?" She asks calmly, but there is a threat in her voice.

"Nobody really. We travel the world and happened to fly over this castle." Hiccup answers back, but snorts as if she doesn't believe him, and somehow that simple gesture made her a lot less stiff. "Yeah, right."

"It's true!" He defended himself. "I'm sure you've heard the tales of the Dragon and the Master, or how they tell it nowadays."

"Everybody knows those are children's tales of the German Kingdoms. They have a fondness for tales in those lands." She says, but she smiles and Hiccup is once again captured by the way the light reflects in her eyes.

"That is what I thought of this place too, when I heard whispers of a witch queen." He counters, and it triggers a small smile on her face. "But here we are and it turns out, we are both real."

"I'm not a witch." She defends bitterly.

He smiled awkwardly at his choice of words. "Of course not!" He adds a little bit too quickly "Just like I'm not a dragon master! Toothless and I are friends!"

Her gaze returns to Toothless at the mention of his name."I've never seen something like him before." She admits quietly. Hiccup thinks it's a polite way of putting it, but he resists the urge to point out that he's never quite seen something like her before either.

"He's a bit rare, but there are many other kinds of dragon's where I come from."

Her interest is obviously peaked, and without words of persuasion he tells her of his homelands, of the dragons and how he lost his leg. For the first time in many years, he tells her of his father, and how he disappointed him by leaving. He tells her of loneliness and of friendship and of searching, always searching for a place to come home to. She's amazed, but so is he because he'd been asked many times but never found the words to speak of his past and now, in front of this shy yet strong woman, it all falls into place perfectly.

"It must be amazing to see so much."She says when his throat is sore from the stories and the sun is setting.

He nods in agreement, when he suddenly has an idea that makes his heart race. "Do you want to ride him?" He offers her, gesturing at his slumbering friend.

"Oh no!" She shrieks back immediately, withdrawing within herself, but Hiccup has already grasped her hand and is dragging her forward to his sleeping dragon, unaware of her discomfort. But she doesn't really struggle as much as she could, and they both know it.

"What are you so afraid of?" He winks at her, feeling himself in his element. This is who he is, the person who changes minds and hearts and it feels good to be that person again. Or maybe it is that _something_ inside of him that makes him want to change her mind _really_ badly.

"That I fall!" She shouts back, but she's light and not really protesting when he raises her on top of Toothless saddle. She seems more afraid to protest than anything else, and some things click in Hiccup's head. He redoubles his efforts. The recently woken up dragon seems okay with it. There is a light in his dragon's eyes, but he knows it's not for this queen. He avoids his eyes with a small blush on his face.

"You won't, don't worry! I'll hold on to you!" He says while he settles behind her in the saddle. His prosthetic easily clicks into place, and with some rope he binds her to the saddle. But the queen is still reluctant. "Come on, let go of whatever is really holding you back and just be free!"

He doesn't know if it's his words that do the trick, or if it's the fact that Toothless moves up in a single, graceful sweep and sets to the sky in a way that is unforgivable of any fear. But he's not imagining it when he sees her shoulders relax and hears her breath catch in excitement. Toothless is considerate and doesn't fly at full speed, but he's not holding back with the loops or tricks either but it's okay, because she's _laughing_. He feels much prouder at his accomplishment than he should feel, but it's been a strange day for him to say the very least. It's been so long since his hands have rested on a woman's hips, since he felt blonde hair come loose in the wind and it's both painful and intoxicating.

It ends all too soon when she asks him, breathless, dishevelled and flushed red from the cold wind, to bring her back, and he obliges. She's still smiling when they land on the balcony, and pets Toothless lovingly. The dragon is a sucker for attention and easily rolls over so she can pet his stomach. It's a charming sight, and it's a shame that his growling stomach interrupts it. The queen hides a giggle behind her hand, but admits she's quite hungry too. Luckily Hiccup is a prepared and seasoned traveller, and never goes anywhere without well stocked saddlebags. They share some smoked meat and sugared fruits on an icy table in her big hall while Toothless goes out to hunt his own food.

"I wish I could live like you do, free." She admits after a comfortable silence.

Hiccup raises his brow in surprise. Of all things that he thought had bothered her, this had not been one of them. "Is this not your country, and are you not free to rule it as you see fit?"

"Ruling is not just doing whatever you please." She says with a practised sternness, and the image of her in fine clothes and jewellery flashes before his eyes. "It's a lot of listening to what others want you to do, negotiating and compromising on what is best for your country."

"You sound like my father." He says it before he thinks it. "Talking about duty and self-sacrifice. But you don't take as much joy in it as he did." Does, his mind supplies, but if the years have taught him anything than it is muffling the voices that bid him to go back to where he came from.

She sighs and puts down icy fork."I've been sheltered all my life. I don't know my people and they don't know me. I don't see how I could ever be a queen to them, especially now they've seen what I truly am." She explains with a forlornness in her voice.

"What you are? You sound like you thing you're a monster." Hiccup says with his mouth half full of food. "My teacher taught me lots of things, but there's one thing that has always rang true."

The queen shrugs off his statement. "Always believe in yourself? Trust me, I've heard that one a thousand times."

He shook his head and tried to catch her eyes with his to make her understand. "One day, after I had once again screwed up at catching dragons and had somehow destroyed half the village in the process, and after my father had yelled at me to never leave the house again, he came to me. I felt pretty damn bad about myself, I'd almost gotten people killed, and some people were badly hurt because of my actions. People were calling me useless, and I believed it. But he put his hand on my shoulder and told me to never call myself useless, a waste of space or a monster. Because once you accept a title as such, you start acting like it, and that is when you become it."

"But I've already hurt people. My sister. I have already become what they said I am." "Is that something a queen does?"

Hiccup considers her words for a moment."Maybe not. But it happens to all of us sometimes. It means you're human." He says after a while. "What I mean is, you make your own destiny. Maybe you think you're not fit to be a queen. Maybe you're not. I always wanted to be a Viking but I certainly wasn't fit for it. And it was for the better. But, do you think you can't be a queen, or because somebody told you?"

"What does it matter." She spits back bitterly, and it catches him off guard. "I've left is all behind already."

"It's never too late to go back."

"Look at me Hiccup!" She cries out with such an intensity that the icy table grows spikes, but Hiccup tries not to be afraid. That is the last she needs right now. "Look at me and tell me you see a queen and not an ice witch! Tell me and lie to me, if that is what you want!" She bellows through the icy halls.

He was taken aback by her sudden emotion. "Right now I don't see a queen. I see a lost woman with the potential to be a queen." He says as calmly as he can manage. "But I certainly don't see a witch, and I certainly don't see a monster."

Her eyes narrow, and she gives him a sceptical look-over. "Says the boy who rides dragons." She makes it sound like it's a bad thing, her tone as cold as the ice she commands.

"Yeah, so what?" He spits back.

She looks at him accusingly. "What I mean is, you're like me. Fleeing from your world. What right do you have to tell me what to do and who to be when you admitted to running away from your problems yourself?"

He shrinks back."You're right." He mutters, his eyes downcast. "I crossed a line. I apologize." It sounds cold and politer than he's ever been. He doesn't know what possessed him to speak so familiarly to her in the first place, and he's ashamed because they've only just met and still she's so _right _it hurts. It's been a long time since he's let somebody in and he's reminded why again.

"No, I'm sorry." She says, cradling her head in her arms as she shakes it. There's a storm inside there, he can see that clear as day now, but suddenly he's not so intend in weathering through it.

"I should probably leave before the night sets in and I can't find shelter anymore." He says more to himself than to her. They both know what he's really saying. "Thanks for your hospitality. I meant it when I said that your castle is really amazing." They both know that if he leaves, he won't come back.

But he never makes it past the door of the balcony. "No! Don't leave." She cried out after him with desperation, and it shook Hiccup that he could form such a bond with someone he'd only met this morning. He turned around, and looked her straight in the eyes. For once, her gaze didn't falter, and she stared straight back at him and all he could think is that _this _stare is that ofa queen.

"Well. It's not like I can leave before Toothless is back anyway." He admits, but they both know that that's an excuse too. She smiles at him when he steps back into the castle, welcoming him back with both hands. There is something eager in her, something hungry that makes him aware of how he might just spend the night in a woman's castle.

They settle in a silence after that, as toothless returns with a full belly and a mouth full of fire wood. They make a small fire on the lowest floor of the castle so it doesn't met through a ceiling and the queen can fix whatever damage the warmth does quickly, and their conversation is comfortable and casual. Hiccup doesn't ask what she's not comfortable answering anymore, but he does learn a great deal about her kingdom and childhood. He learns of her beloved sister Anna, of the childhood they had and of her singing teachers that always had tried to make her sing softly, when all she wanted was to sing with all her heart. He even persuaded her to sing a song for him, and was more than just blown away by it. With the warmth in his bones came the sleepiness, and eventually he concedes that maybe he'd better stay for the night.

She seems relieved, and offers to create a bed for him but he declines. "Sleeping next too Toothless is good enough for me. Besides, no offence, but a bed made of ice will probably give me pneumonia."

She smiles at that, but there is a sad undertone there while she makes her own bed. Hiccup doesn't know if he's supposed to just camp out here in the same room. His father was always rather adamant about him Astrid not sharing the same bed or even room, but then again, that was Astrid and what seems like decades ago. When she doesn't say anything he decides to just bring out his sleeping bag and put it next to Toothless' warm body as usual. "Good night" he calls out when she's reduced the small fire to some smoldering wood slowly melting the snowy floor on which it was build.

The light of the morning, polarized by the icy walls wakes him up to a world of color and cold. Toothless is already up and Hiccup supposes getting his breakfast. A quick search through the castle locates her on the balcony, singing to the rising sun. "Oh you're up." She greets him, and she seems more relaxed than yesterday, as if the night made her familiar to his presence. "I took the liberty of eating some of your food from your saddlebags, I hope you don't mind."

He shakes his head and moves to stand next to her on the balcony. "Food is to be eaten."

She rolls her eyes at that, but he's too bewitched by the morning light reflected on her icy dress to take offence. She's beautiful, and somehow his dream of her did not do her justice.

She looks at him funnily when she notices that he's staring, but the fact that she doesn't reprimand her sparks something silly in him. It's a funny feeling, having a racing heart after its been cold for such a long time. "So, what do you want to do while Toothless is hunting?" He asks her after a while.

"I don't know."

"We could play a game?" Hiccup supplies.

"With what game set?" She asks him sarcastically, but he only looks at her with one raised eyebrow until it dawns on her.

She has the audacity to look embarrassed while she fashions a chessboard out of ice.

"Is that all you can do?" Hiccup challenges her. "You build this castle, yet settle with such an average chess board?" He's played the game a few times with Rapunzel when he was in Corona, and in the back of his mind he thinks that this powerful and beautiful queen is probably the cousin she was supposed to go see.

The queen's smile turns playful as she rises to the challenge. With a simple step of her foot, the floor becomes a chessboard, and with a few flicks of her wrist she creates the game pieces. Only, the king looks very human. And the queen even looks slightly like her, though with lines in her icy face. Hiccup realizes only when she is creating a life sized horse that these are people she knows, perfectly sculpted out of ice. He doesn't even realize his mouth is hanging open in wonder the entire time. When she has created two sets of game pieces, both looking very similar but different enough to differentiate them into two sets, they begin to play. It takes longer than his previous chess games, if only because he has to use his full strength to move the game pieces over the board while all she has to do is flick her wrist.

She's a keen strategist, and obviously an avid player, but it's not her imminent victory or his struggles to move the game pieces that bring a smile to her face. No, Hiccup thinks, it's the notion that she can also use her powers for things like this, for fun, and not just to hurt others. She giggles freely when he tells Toothless to melt his conquered game pieces, and it's the most magical thing of the morning.

"Checkmate." She declares when her Queen moves in front of his King, and he pretends to mind.

"Oh no!" He says with all the dramatic flair he can manage. "How am I ever supposed to survive such a defeat!" and he mock faints. The queen keeps laughing while he mourns the lives of his precious King, now being melted by a happy Toothless, and for a moment all is perfectly well.

And then the moment shatters. "Elsa?" A girl with two long braids standing in the door opening looks at the two of them with questioning eyes. She must have found them by the sounds of their laughing, and they were so deep into their own world that they never heard her approach. He supposes it's a strange sight to walk into: a man, a queen and a dragon, laughing and playing a life sized chess game made of ice. Then her name echoes through his mind. _Elsa_, that's how she called her, and Hiccup knows that whatever happens after today, he'll remember her name for the rest of his life.

The transformation in Elsa is immediate. She turns from playful to guarded, but she's not afraid of this girl, but genuinely glad to see her. Hiccup puts two and two together and figures it's her sister she's told him so much about. He gets up from the ground, and extends his hand to her. "I'm Hiccup" He introduces himself, but she only stares at it. He retreats his hand when he remembers that one should bow, not shake hands with royalty.

The girl smiles pleasantly at him though, and introduces herself as Anna. Her attention goes quickly back to Elsa. "Did you make all this?" She asks with wonder in her voice, and Elsa nods, almost as if she is embarrassed. "You look amazing." Anna says when her eyes settle from the icy ceiling to her ice-clad sister.

"Thanks." Elsa says back awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

Then, a smile threatens to split Anna's face apart as she runs towards her sister. "I'm so sorry about what happened, but is I'd known—" But Elsa cuts her off before she can come to close.

"No, it's okay. It was my fault, you don't have to apologize. But please don't come close." She says almost desperately and walks behind him, putting Hiccup between herself and her sister. Anna is not easily dissuaded though, and easily slips past him.

"No, I won't let you shut me out any more." She says with more courage in her voice than Hiccup could have ever mustered. "I just got here, and I won't leave until you come back with me!"

"I can't!" Elsa cried back desperately. "I belong here! Here, where I can be who I am without hurting you or anybody else!"

"You belong down in Arendelle!" Anna yelled, but her words contained warmth while Elsa only seemed grow more frightened with every word. "You are the queen, you can't abandon your country!"

"They will be better off without me!" She declared defiantly.

"Uhm, about that?" Anna lowered her voice, but there was an awkward reluctance it that put both of them off guard. "You kind of set of frozen half of the country. We need you to bring back summer."

Elsa's eyes grew wide, and she started gasping for air. Toothless immediately came to stand behind her, to catch her in case she would faint. After a second, she managed to catch enough of her breath to cry out: "I can't do that!"

It was Hiccup who looked up surprised "How do you know that? You just created a perfect icy carving of a human. You've created this very castle within a day, and you tell me that you can't do that?" He gestured the remains of their forgotten chess game, littered all over the checkered floor. "How do you know that?"

"It's not the same, Hiccup. I've been able to create ice all my life. But to create the warmth to meld it? I've never—"

But before she could explain herself more, she was cut off by Anna's soft whisper. "Elsa" She was standing with her back to them, one hand on Elsa's queen's face. "Mama" was all she was able to say before the tears came, and Elsa's strong pose fell with that single word like a magic charm. Then she lowered her eyes and walked over to her grieving sister.

For a long time they just stood there together, not quite touching, not quite speaking and yet somehow Hiccup got the feeling that they hadn't been closer than this in a long time. It made him think of him and his father, how they had awkwardly tried to mend their broken relationship, and how he'd ripped apart all that progress when he selfishly fled as far as he could possibly go.

He shakes away the memories. This is not the time for regret or reminiscence. The queen is still tense and that means that she can still be a danger, to either herself or to others. He is the only one that sees a young man with blonde hair and questioning eyes walk in, as the sisters are still lost in thought.

"I'm Hiccup." He says, breaking the trance of silence.

"Hi. Kristoff." The man replies, but his gaze is firmly locked on Anna.

"Kristoff?" Anna turns around, tear streaks fresh on her face. "Didn't I tell you to stay outside?" But despite her words, she seems happy to see him.

"Who is he?" Elsa asks her sister, and some of the fear creeps back into her features. Like a charm, Toothless becomes her shadow.

"Kristoff, Ma'am" The man says, and he makes the most awkward of bows. Hiccup can see him tremble ever so slightly, eyeing the dragon warily. Anna too, seems to have noticed him by now.

"What's that?" Anna pointed at Toothless, who looked no less then insulted.

"Not what." Hiccup says, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice. "Who. Toothless, he's my dragon."

It doesn't convince Kristoff nor Anna that they're safe, but they're not leaving either at the sight of the nightfury, and not everybody can claim that. "And who may you be?" Anna asks without any restraint in her voice.

"I'm Hiccup. Or Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, if you will. But Hiccup is enough."

"You don't sound like you're from here." Kristoff remarks, and Hiccup knows it's either his outlandish name or the way he pronounces some words. The Norse they speak here is similar yet different from the Norse they speak up in Berk.

"That's correct." Hiccup admits, now hyper-aware of his own accent. "I'm from the archipelago's up north, close to the north pole."

"And why are you here, with my sister?" Anna asks, though her tone is lighter and more friendly.

Hiccup was getting tired of all the explaining. This was why he avoided civilization in general from time to time. "I just happen to fly past. It's hard to see a ice castle like this and not check it out."

"I know right?" Kristoff muttered, taking a short look at the icy structure of the ceiling. But Anna raises a brow at that. Then, something makes her frown and shout out to her sister.

"Elsa! And you told me I was crazy because I loved a man I only met that day!" She screamed almost childishly, but only then they realized that Elsa had long fled the room to the safety of her balcony. When they went to her, they found her staring at her kingdom in shock. In her freedom she hadn't even connected the cold and the snowy rooftops with the season. It was summer, and she'd done this. She knew crops would fail this season, and hunger would soon follow, and all because of her incompetence!

Hiccup refrained from putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, knowing it would only startle her. Her sister and Kristoff got the same message and merely stood besides the queen.

"I did all this….?" She whispered, the pain in deep in her voice.

"It's okay. You can fix it!" Anna said with confidence, but Hiccup saw the shift in Elsa's demeanour. She was so convinced that all she could do was harm, that she would never be able to undo this.

"You don't have to fix this right now." He said instead, hoping his words would calm Elsa. "I can take you all back there quickly, and then you can figure this out together."

"How?" She exclaimed with a frown on her beautiful face. "My parents have searched everywhere to cure me, and they could never find a way. Why would we succeed before people starve?"

Hiccup tried to ignore the grim reality of this sudden midsummer's dream. "I don't think there is a 'cure'. You were born with this just like your sister was born with red hair. It's part of you, and not a necessarily bad thing."

Before Hiccup could say anything more to convince her, her sister took the queen's hand and held it close to her heart. "Yeah Elsa, your powers are amazing!" She said with starry wonder in her eyes. "We don't need to find out how to fix you, only to fix the weather. I'm sure mom and dad have never looked for that!"

Elsa remained sceptic, but eventually together they managed to convince her that it would be best if she would return to her kingdom. "But only if you stay until all this is fixed." She gave as a condition, and Hiccup agreed before he could think about what that would mean.

Once the issue was settled, Anna was happier than ever and Hiccup did not know if it was because she got her sister back, or because she got to ride a dragon. She seemed completely over her fear of Toothless and was eagerly petting him just the way the dragon liked it. It pained Hiccup to tell her that no, Toothless couldn't carry three people on his back so either they would have to wait for him to cross them over one by one, or she and Kristoff could already get a head start. Kristoff perked up at the idea, and was quick to drag Anna with him to Sven, whoever that may be. The slam of the front door echoed through the castle, and only then it seemed to dawn on Elsa that she really was leaving her sanctuary.

_**To be continued in the second and final instalment**_


End file.
